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Stephen

Pro baseball might be America’s pastime and pro football our most popular and profitable game, but professional basketball, our other major homegrown sport, has the most recognizable and exciting American athletes in the world. Yet at the same time, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is facing one of its most challenging moments ever.

The league is finishing what commissioner David Stern concedes to PARADE is its most economically disastrous season ever — $400 million in the red, nearly twice what it has lost in tough years before. Fewer fans are going to games, the result of a bad economy but also of what a veteran NBA observer calls “too many meaningless games, too many watered-down rosters.” The competitive balance of the league could be further upset on July 1, when LeBron James and the most gifted group of hoops free agents ever will be able to switch teams. And next year’s expiration of the collective bargaining agreement raises the possibility of a new relationship among the NBA, its players, and its fans, along with the threat of a strike or lockout. As a season-ticket holder for the Philadelphia 76ers and a die-hard fan, I’m concerned about what the future holds for the league, but I’m also intrigued by the prospects for change.

NBA attendance was soft again this year — 18 of 30 teams saw a drop — and the only reason the numbers weren’t worse was the desperate ploys some teams used to fill seats. At 76ers games, traditional halftime entertainment has been almost entirely replaced by local school dance troupes, whose members and families are charged admission and urged to sell tickets themselves.

When I ask about the empty seats, commissioner Stern answers: “What the attendance shows is that markets are very different. Some are more sensitive to the quality of the product on the floor,” seemingly acknowledging that some fans are staying home because of weak games. However, he points to tweaks the NBA made this year that created faster and higher-scoring games. Stern is also encouraged by the league’s explosive growth both online and abroad and promises, “Over the next several years, you’ll see an NBA with divisions in Europe.” He places much of the blame for the league’s problems on contractual issues, including guaranteed salaries that have locked teams into paying players exorbitant sums of money. The NBA’s economic structure “does not work,” he says, “and we need a sustainable business model.”

The balance of power within the NBA has been skewed for a while. In the past few years, perhaps only five teams have seriously contended for championships, and in the past 26 years, only seven cities have enjoyed victory parades. Compare that to the NFL, where nine different teams have won Super Bowls in a dozen years. And the amazing free-agent class up for grabs next month — which also includes Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Dirk Nowitzki — could lead to a greater disparity in talent, since the same handful of teams are likely to stockpile the All-Stars.

Even more important to the NBA’s future is the 2011 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, which establishes the rules for the division of revenues, player contracts, trades, and the salary cap. While stalled talks could lead to a strike or lockout — the last one wrecked the 1998-99 season with the cancellation of 30-plus games — few believe that will happen. But as negotiations heat up, the NBA is heading into a fascinating period when there are more chances to change, improve, or mess up the game than ever before. “We need to grow this game,” says superagent David Falk, who represented Michael Jordan and reps other top players today. The changes are “going to be very, very extreme, because I think the times are extreme.”

Stern says changes are up to the league’s rules committee but admits to one “quirk as a fan.” He thinks the offensive interference rules should be abolished, letting “anyone do anything with the ball above the rim.” Here, according to a few NBA watchers, are six more ways to revive the sport we love — some practical, some improbable, all worth considering.

SIX SAVES

1. CHANGE THE FOUL-OUT RULES. “Instead of ejecting a player after six foul,” says agent Steve Mountain, who represents Orlando’s Jameer Nelson, “assess a technical for fouls six and seven, and eject after eight. This would keep the best players in the game longer.”

2. INCREASE SCORING.“Shorten the 24-second shot clock to 20 seconds to make for more possessions,” Falk says. “Or create a four-point play. People thought the three-point shot would destroy the game, but it added to it instead.” 3. RAISE THE AGE LIMIT.“You should have to be out of high school for three years to play in the NBA,” Falk says. Playing college hoops would allow athletes to develop a fan base that they could carry with them into the pros.

4. ENCOURAGE QUIRK.“There’s a reason why Charles Barkley, who is retired, is still getting endorsements,” says Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim, who has covered the NBA for 13 years, “and, say, Tim Duncan and Carmelo Anthony aren’t. Today, the players with personality often have the color bleached out of them.” Blogger Bethlehem Shoals of FanHouse.com advises, “They should Twitter all the time. It could be a lifeline to these guys’ personalities.”

6. SHORTEN THE SEASON.The NBA’s season comprises 82 games. Reducing the number of contests could make each one matter much more to players and fans alike. As Falk explains, “In pro football, there are only 16 games, so every game is critical.”

What changes would you make to the NBA? Tell us in the comments section below.

11 More Ways to Fix the NBA

For the PARADE story “6 Ways to Fix the NBA” I had long, fascinating dialogues with five pro basketball experts, including league commissioner David Stern, about the future of the game and what changes can be made to improve it. Here are 11 more suggestions they had—some realistic, some more fanciful, all worth considering as the NBA heads into its most illustrious free-agent period and most important collective-bargaining agreement ever. And please feel free to respond with your own suggestions in the comments section below.

2. Change the salary structure. “The current system limits the salaries of the few legitimate superstars but raises the salaries of average players,” agent David Falk declares. “We’v e created almost a socialistic state in the NBA, robbing from the stars to pay the average players. We also have to stop paying the replaceable players big money. When role players think they are stars, they won’t play hard. If you paid your secretary $750,000 a year, do you think she’d still get you coffee?”

3. Limit the length of player contracts (which now consist of five-year agreements). “There should be a three or four-year maximum,” agent Steve Mountain recommends. “And maybe every third or fourth year, the league would declare a moratorium on bad contracts, allowing the teams to buy them out—and only get charged 50 cents on the dollar against the salary cap.” (Currently, if a team buys out a player, the salary still counts 100% against the cap.)

4) Institute a tiered salary system. “Currently, the league’s highest- and lowest-paid players, as well as its rookies, have their contract figures set for them,” Bethlehem Shoals, an NBA blogger at FanHouse.com, explains. “Other than that, it’s up to the free market—a matter of supply and demand that can leave teams with contracts that they end up regretting for years. Replace this with a tiered salary system, like government pay grades. With limited contract options, say, every $4 million, to choose from, this would bring the teams closer to financial parity.”

5. Eliminate some teams. “The NBA would never do this, of course,” Mountain says, “ but it would improve the game if, say, four teams were eliminated. With those 60 players gone, each roster would immediately get better.”

6. Reincentivize team play—financially. “There was a time when every player on a team would receive a bonus based upon team wins,” Falk recalls, “but no one can do that anymore because those bonuses count against the salary cap. What if some percentage of the salary cap, say 5%, was reserved only to be paid out based on team performance—how the team does, increases in attendance? It would force players to want to win as many games as they can, especially since some of the lower-paid players could stand to make more money from the bonuses than their salary.”

7. Overhaul the regular season schedule. “Players are getting beaten up by too many games and way too much travel,” Mountain observes. “You’re seeing more injuries and more malingering with injuries, with players waiting until the playoffs to come back because they see that it’s all about the playoffs. If we want to have value during the regular season, why not reduce the number of games to, say, 60, and turn it into an East-West format, more like major league baseball [i.e., with two big divisions, rather than four regional ones]? This will result in better teams, better rivalries, and less travel.”

8. Shorten the playoffs. “Go back to the best-of-five format for the first round instead of the best-of-seven,” Shoals advises. “While the NBA likes the additional games for the added revenue they bring, the added tension means just die-hard fans will be watching. Reducing the number of first-round games will make for better product and make the post-season less of a slog.”

9. Fix the Knicks. “Other teams hate to hear this, but the Knicks really are something of a bellwether for the league,” Wertheim maintains. “And for the last decade, the New York team’s performance has ranged from merely bad to abominable. Fact is, if LeBron James starts working on 8th Avenue, it changes the league’s entire complexion.” (“Change every rule in the sport so that the New York team is good,” Mountain says, only half-joking. “New York needs to be good—it’s the metropolis, the mecca for basketball.”)

10. Lower the lowest ticket prices. “One of the great things about baseball,” Falk states, “ is that you can sit in the top deck for $4 or $5 a ticket. How cool would it be if the NBA priced tickets so that seats on the upper deck cost no more than $10, allowing the average fan to be able to come to games? You could raise the price of the premium seats, since the people who can afford them will still pay. But it’s more important for the game to be affordable for the average fan.”

11. Last but not least, come up with something new for half time and during timeouts. “It’s time to freshen up the promotional playbook,” Wertheim suggests. “We’ve seen the dancers and the peppy men dunking on trampolines. We’ve heard the infernal Thunderstix. Catapulting free T-shirts on those rubberized slingshots demeans us all.”

AMG/Parade Digital

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